We are so happy and give thanks to God for our newest Ascribed members; Diane and Bob Mackey, Becky Moultrie, and Jeana Valenty. God bless them for their openness to formation and completing it during the time of the Coronavirus. 
Feast Day Antonio Rosmini July 1 2020
On behalf of our priest Father Gordon Father Henry, and our Ascribed Members of the Institute of Charity, I welcome all of you as we celebrate the Feast Day of Blessed Antonio Rosmini.
I extend the gracious welcome as well to four of our parishioners who are ready and prepared to live the charism of Blessed Rosmini.
Father Founder, as we affectionately refer to this saintly man, was an intellectual giant in the 18th century and his writings have influenced Mother Church in recent times.
He was beatified this day in his hometown of Novara, Italy in the year 2007.
Blessed Rosmini was born in Roverto , Italy in the year 1797.
He was ordained a priest in 1821 and at the encouragement of Cardinals and Pope Pius VII, this young priest devoted his gifts to philosophical studies and writings.
He took our Holy Father’s counsel to heart and spent the rest of his life publishing the works of philosophy, theology, spirituality, pedagogy or the theory and practice of education, politics and ethics.
He was a prolific writer, author of 97 books.
He also wrote 15 volumes of letters to members of his religious order and many others.
He founded the religious order, Institute of Charity in the year 1828 and it has spread throughout Italy, England, New Zealand, Ireland, France, the United States, Venezuela, Tanzania, and India.
Rosmini had played a significant part in the spiritual, intellectual and political life of Italy.
Just seven years before his death he was about to be made Cardinal Secretary of State by Pius lX.
He had been a friend of several of the previous Popes who had encouraged him as a writer.
They also supported his foundation of both ‘The Institute of Charity’ and the ‘Sisters of Providence’, a religious order for women.
In 1849 Rosmini’s life changed dramatically.
He no longer had, as it were, ‘A seat at the top table’ and for the last seven years of his life he became a figure on the margins of the Church and a figure of suspicion.
And except for the loyalty and companionship of the Brethren and friends, he became more isolated.
Truly great men are rarely appreciated in their own time.
That is why it is almost inevitable that they are misunderstood.
Two of Rosmini’s books in June 1849, had been put on the Index and it was an ‘open secret’ that his writings were under suspicion.
Alas, what was not generally known was that Pope Pius IX and the Holy Office had cleared all Rossini’s writings of error.
This Decree however, had not been made public so Rosmini remained ‘under a cloud of suspicion’ and it was under this cloud of suspicion that Rosmini died.
His last words were, ‘Be silent, adore and rejoice’.
Then in 1887, many years after Rosmini’s death, the cloud darkened with the condemnation of the ‘Forty Propositions’.
This suspicion was to last for more than a hundred years.
During the last 150 years the Church has wavered from condemnation to approval.
However, with the election of John XXIII in 1958, the Church began to see Rosmini in a more positive light.
Rosmini now is even quoted in papal encyclicals!
John Paul II, in ‘Faith and Reason’, wrote that Rosmini was one of the thinkers who could guide the Church in the twenty first century.
With time, Rosmini’s greatness and holiness have finally been recognized.
Benedict XVI in his Apostolic Letter, called Rosmini Blessed and decreed that his feast may be celebrated every year on 1st July.
On the day of Rosmini’s Beatification, in his Angelus Address in St Peter’s Square, Benedict XVI said: “This afternoon Antonio Rosmini will be beatified, a great priestly figure and illustrious man of culture, inspired by a fervent love for God and the Church”.
The Pope went on to say that Rosmini “witnessed the virtue of charity in all its dimensions but what made him most famous was ‘intellectual charity’, which means the reconciliation of reason with faith.”
His Holiness concluded by saying, “May Rosmini’s example help the Church. to grow in the awareness that the light of human reason and that of Grace, when they journey together, become a source of blessing for the human person and for society.”
As the wonderful Bishop of Novara said on his beatification, “We must pray and look forward to the day Blessed Antonio Rosmini will be declared a Saint and a Doctor of the Church”.
